By So says this NCO in Daegu:
The U.S. Army in South Korea is not ready for what command sponsorship brings to the peninsula. The Army in South Korea is geared toward one-year hardship tours. There is a lack of just about everything, making the tour in South Korea unpleasant for most family members — everything from a lack of health and dental coverage to unit tempos that are still based on one-year-tour ratios.
Germany should be the standard example for command sponsorship. My family has found the Army in South Korea to be an unpleasant experience.
Staff Sgt. Mark Jennrich
Camp Humphreys, South Korea
I have to wonder if this is more of a Daegu issue than a USFK issue. I have heard plenty of people say that being stationed in Daegu sucks. I have no idea, I have never been stationed down there and have spent little time in Daegu. However, I have met many families stationed in Korea that enjoyed living there, granted most of them were living on Yongsan. If your family was living in Korea did they enjoy being stationed there?
11:57 am on September 23rd, 2009 1
If anyone thinks Taegu is bad, try Casey or Hovey on for size…
Anyway, the real problem with bringing families here is access to schools. However, in many cases, USFK will reimburse you if you have to send your kids to a private school.
Still the penn (outside of Yongsan) is quite inadequate to the task. Moreover, they can't even decide what facilities will be closed and when. So how can they figure out where to add more family support?
12:17 pm on September 23rd, 2009 2
In comparison to American cities, Daegu is large with a big population.
However, it does suck big time!
It's a large collection of small towns thrown together with the traditional, country village attitude.
Not a good placement!
2:39 pm on September 23rd, 2009 3
Interesting, I've heard a lot of great things about command sponsorships to Korean, especially Taegu. A close friend of my is there right now and is having a great time.
Like anything else, Korea can definitely be an enjoyable tour if you want it to be.
I've never gone to Korea through the military but I have been there personally. The technology is superior to the US and the public restrooms are soo clean! Lol… I only mention this because I remember going to Korea as a child (I'm of Korean descent and my family still resides there)and I remember the bathrooms being AWFUL….
2:55 pm on September 23rd, 2009 4
One of the unappreciated aspects of the GI villes that sprout outside military bases is all the other services and amenities provided for Americans beside the bars and girls. There are the shops that provide cheap and custom make items of interest and sizes for Americans, and merchants who speak English and are foreigner friendly.
It wasn't a secret at Osan that you should expect not only more Space-A visitors but more VIP and Washington D.C. staff delegation visits toward the end of the year during the Christmas shopping season.
I was stationed at Taegu over 25 years ago. K-2 Airbase is a ROKAF base that, at the time, had a detachment of USAF. We had a small local ville, but the bigger ville was across town outside Camp Walker. Even then, I believe they had schools and family housing on nearby Camp George. The ville was relatively small compared to Itaewon or Songtan but I believe it satisfied many of the needs of the Americans stationed there.
I last visited Taegu about 8 years ago. I walked around about half the perimeter of Camp Walker and Henry and saw nothing I would call a ville. There was very little with even English writing on a sign. It appeared the bases had become, like Kunsan, Fort Apaches surrounded by indifferent, if not hostile, Koreans.
When a ville goes away, it is not just a loss for the single GIs, military families lose something also. I hope USFK would consider that before deciding to antagonize their local communities.
4:21 pm on September 23rd, 2009 5
I have been here for a long time in the Taegu area and was also stationed at K-2 Airbase. The above post is very accurate. However, what I like about here as to other places is there is no ville. No bars or GI junk stores. You get to see the real Korea. Some people will complain no matter where they are at. Even in th US. I know plenty of families who enjoy it here and have been stationed in other parts of Korea.
4:57 pm on September 23rd, 2009 6
Umm, did everyone have a whoosh moment and notice that the original comment is from someone in Camp Humpreys, which is rather far away from Daegu. The Hump is near-ish to Pyongtek, but is actually outside that city, so "the ville" that does exist is rather limited.
Daegu on the other hand is a HUGE city, I've been living here for almost 7 years, five of which was as a solider in the US Army. There is everything to do, lots of shopping and a great night life. The problem is that the military presence is rather small and unless you have a Korean friend or are one of the adventurous types, you will just be a barracks rate and hate it.
The area directly around CP Walker/Henry/George is Nam-Gu, which is the old "downtown" area of 1980's Taegu. Currently its more of a ghetto full of run down little shops and house's, with sprinklings of churches thrown in. Decent food and some bars to go with it.
The ~real~ Daegu is more towards Jung-Gu and Suseong-Gu. Jung-Gu is the new downtown area is has ~everything~ you could want in one spot. Five theaters, tons of bars / night-clubs / restaurants. Four department stores (their building the fifth right next to my apartment) and about two city blocks devoted to shopping. Everything from name brand stores (Gap / WhoRU / Rebook / Ect..) to the Korean style generic clothing / accessory stores. Two streets devoted just to cell phone shops, and another two streets devoted to computer / electronics.
And if you have a car, or know enough Korean to direct the Taxi's, you can get to the Electron Zone mall near EXCO. It has three stories devoted just to electronics with two of those being pure PC / Laptop / Monitors / Camera's. Foods in the basement and parking is ontop and underneath. There are several Home Plus's and a Costco if the commissary doesn't have what you need.
The military base's in Daegu are basically designed for command sponsored soldiers and families. Of all the places in SK to be command sponsored, Daegu is the most preferred. Only Osan and Yongsan can compete, with Osan having a ville scene and Yongsan being a bit uptight / political due to the command presence.
6:04 pm on September 23rd, 2009 7
I've never lived there, so I can't say from first-hand experience. But I've known several Americans (both military and civilian) who have lived in both Seoul and Daegu, and every single one of them said Taegu is a much friendlier, layed-back city compared to Seoul.
7:06 am on September 25th, 2009 8
I'm sure Daegu is much friendlier than Seoul. Actually, how could it be worse than Seoul?
However, I know a few friends that live in Daegu and they all agree it's very vanilla compared to any of the other places in Korea that have US military bases. I think one guy complains there's only one MacDonald's lol! Even 20 years ago I remember a guy from "Taegu Air Base" would come up to Osan or Camp Humphreys mostly because he was bored to death. The guys that are there now do the same thing.
Since Korea has changed so much over the last 20+ years I ask anyone why they want to live in Korea. Ninety percent or more are just doing a one year tour so they can move on to another base. Soooo, my advice to anyone who's considering coming to Korea first realize that it's not a shangri-la. Yes, you can have fun here but if you're just going to hang around the military bases and their ever omnipresent "Villes" then forget about it. The Bases are BAD, the VILLES are SLEAZY and the KOREANS are RUDE unless they get what they want.
The great things about Korea is that it's mostly safe so you don't have to worry about getting shot in the face at 7-11. Many Koreans don't like Americans but they really don't do much about it. I've been sat at the back of restaurants and one guy gave a loud disapproval to me in Chun-Cheon but we can blame Americans from the past for that. Another great thing is that if you do decide to learn some of the language then you're probably going to be shocked on how much the Koreans will like and respect you.
As a matter of fact I'll put that down as the number one key to Korea. If you attempt to learn the language you have a high probability that you will enjoy it here.
12:31 pm on September 26th, 2009 9
First of all look at Mark Jennrich's rank. He abbreviates it the same manner as the Air Force abbreviates their rank of Staff Sergeant. The Army abbreviates it as SSG. So I will take into account that Mark Jennrich is in the Air Force and for a person in the Air Force, not to like any Army installation is understandable. I was in the Army for 20 years and spent some time on Air Force installations as well, they have very nice facilities, even in Korea.
As for Camp Humphreys, the Army has done a lot to improve it. I can remember when the PX there was tiny and there was no Water park. Camp Humphreys will be one of the super bases in Korea in the future. All will be out of Seoul and north of Seoul. So there will be more improvements.
Lest we not forget that just a short time ago this country was in the middle of a civil war where millions where killed or wounded. For South Korea to come as far as it has in the last 50 years plus is amazing. I have been here over 10 years all together, and love it more today than I did in 1985.
5:02 pm on September 26th, 2009 10
I see you love the kool aid.
3:51 pm on September 27th, 2009 11
WTF happened to my comments I made earlier. Did we have a server crash or something because many of the comments from last week have vanished…
9:55 pm on September 27th, 2009 12
Yes there was server issues and some comments and a few postings got deleted unfortunately.
2:18 am on December 9th, 2010 13
Thanks